In a robot control system of conventional type a control cabinet is located at a remote position from the robot structure and includes both a central control unit, which is designed to receive instructions from the user programme and to generate the movement trajectories that must be implemented by the robot motors, and the electronic drive devices of the various robot motors that receive movement instructions from the central unit, and transform them into electric current signals to be sent to the robot motors to guarantee execution of the user programme. Industrial robots of this type are, for example, illustrated in the documents EP 0 728 559 B1 and U.S Pat No. 6,731,091 B2.
In the above-identified documents, it has been already proposed to distribute the aforesaid electronic drive devices on the robot structure, each immediately adjacent to the respective electric motor. However, the solutions of this type which have been provided so far show that there occurred no understanding nor even a vague idea of all the possibilities that are offered by a control architecture with electronic drive devices distributed on the robot structure.
Furthermore, the relative complexity of existing robot wiring harness implies a considerable loss of time both at the time of the initial installation of the robot, as well as each time that the robot harness needs to be replaced. The bending and torsion deformations to which the cables are subject during the movement of the robot elements in fact imposes a relatively short life to the harness itself, with the consequent need for replacement.
A simplification of the harness of the robot would simultaneously solve both the problem of poor durability (since a simplified harness can be more easily positioned within the robot in a way that minimizes deformations), as well as the problem of complexity and length of the harness replacing operations.